Trent Reznor gives Twitter the bird – quits for good

Reznor is hailed by many as a musician who truly “gets it”. He has been at the forefront of using social media to engage with his fans and also been on the cutting edge of business model experimentation in distributing his music.

Back on June 10th, Trent Reznor posted a long rant where he blasted Twitter and called out many of his followers for the negativity they expressed to him regarding the content of his feed:

I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and “human”. I was not expecting to broadcast details of my love life there, but it happened because I’m in love and it’s all I think about and that’s that. If this has bummed you out or destroyed what you’ve projected on me, fair enough – it’s probably time for you to leave. You are right, I’m not the same person I was in 1994 (and I’m happy about that). Are you?

It will be interesting to see how Reznor’s fans react. It does illustrate how social networks like Twitter can be a double edged sword for many high profile celebs. While they do provide a level of engagement that was previously unavailable, they also provide a level of intimacy between fans that can become problematic . In the end, I don’t think it’s a big deal for Reznor or for Twitter. However, I do think it’s interesting that Reznor, who is all about social media, has decided to ditch the service.

Mike is passionate about the web and the startup companies building the Social Media technologies of tomorrow.
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